Events: June, 2019

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June 2019

Here is a round-up of the events at The Swan during June, 2019.

8th June: Volunteer Day

A huge thanks for another great turn-out for our volunteer's morning, helped by the non-appearance of the predicted rain and instead was a fabulous, sunny day.

Team Tony in the pub building cleaned up the brick work as much of this will be left exposed;
Team John were sanding and prepping walls in the school room;
Team Ian were deep in the cellar washing walls;
Team Courtyard were shifting all the hardcore and moving wood and rubbish ready for the BBQ later:
Team Strippers were wood stripping and wire stripping aplenty;
Team Clean were cleaning bathrooms and bedrooms.

It is great to feel the community spirit in these volunteering mornings and to see so many of our regulars taking a pride in helping out and making new friends.

We were thrilled to receive more plants from Pamela and Richard – many were sold during the morning session and the others further bolstered the evening’s takings.

These are a collection of photos taken by Doug Seeburg, a volunteer and a professional photographer too.

In the school room

Stripping school room fixtures

Emptying the coach house

Cleaning the walls in the bar

The bar area

Moving plasterboard

The bar area

Cleaning the cellar

In the courtyard

Up in the scaffolding

Creating the stage

Plant sale on the right

Here are some images from Facebook, etc. taken by supporters. Much appreciated!

Tasks for today

Cleaning walls in the bar

Men doing men's stuff

Assembling a gazebo

Activity in the courtyard

Ensuring courtyard is pet safe

Wire stripping for copper

Prepping the BBQ food area

Disassembling cellar equipment

Washing down the toilet walls

Enjoying a chat

Sanding bits for the school room

Plants for sale

Clearing the courtyard

Washing down the cellar

Team working in the bar

Less said the better

Glad it was a nice day

Tea break

8th June: Second Sneaky Beak

On the evening of Saturday 8th June, we had our second event at The Swan: another fundraising BBQ. It followed on from a very successful first Sneak Beak in late April. What a great evening was had by all. The weather continued to hold which brought a lot more people through the gates than we were expecting but we had planned well, and consequently had more than enough food and drink to go around for the 200+ people.

The band – Mark and Sherridan – provided fantastic music entertainment and had people not only singing along but up on their feet dancing the evening away.

It was lovely to see so many of our Swan families bringing along their dogs and luckily two of our amazing volunteers had made swan print bandanas, so a number of those dogs went home wearing their very smart accessories.

We received so many positive comments about the BBQ, the volunteering sessions and the progress being made in the buildings. It feels so good to be part of something that is literally bringing our community together. We simply cannot thank you all enough for being part of this amazing project. Here's to many more Swan events!

At the gate

Our cashiers - Anne and Louise

Team at the bar

Tony another BBQ maestro

John one of the BBQ maestros

Peter, our welcoming host

One of the tours about to start

Enjoying a chat

The BBQ team hard at it

Mingling

The stage

Swan bric-a-brac

Richard taking donations

The musicians

Speechs by Will and Richard

22nd June: Swan Lifeline

When a lost swan decided to visit the pub a few months ago, we had to call on the help of the team at The Swan Lifeline to ensure he did not wander into the traffic and a great ‘Swan’ friendship was born which led to us being invited to have a stall at their annual open day.

So, whilst half of the Communications and Events Committee were getting dusty and dirty at Volunteer’s Day, the other half were out in the community adding to the funds for our refurbishment, raising awareness of our project with a new audience and learning about the amazing work done at the rescue centre on Cuckoo Island in Eton.

Thank you to all of those who came down to see us (some straight from the volunteer day!) and lent your support to The Swan in Clewer and the Swan Lifeline. We had a lovely (clean!) day in the sun and are looking forward to continuing our relationship with the team at the centre.

Ric and Anne at our stall

One of our doggie bandanas

The Swan Lifeline bags

Our friends from Radio Berks were there

Anne explaining abot The Swan

Swan Supporters Adrian and Dawn

Rachel with one of the swans

We used the old pub sign

Entrance to The Lifeline

Poor wee thing

22nd June: Volunteers Day

In order to help with preparation for major plumbing work, we tried something different and held an informal Volunteer’s Day. Despite the quite short notice, around 25 people came down to the Swan and achieved an enormous amount of work, including removal of the old ceiling in bedroom 2, removing the last of the old floors, clearing out the gullies and our old favourite, wire stripping. Many thanks to all of those who came down and donated their time and energy. We hope you enjoyed the day, as well as the beer and sandwiches!

Tasks included:

Plasterboarding the two ends of the school.
Cleaning duty in the bar area to make it as good as possible.
Pulling down the ceiling in bedroom two and remove all the rubble to the skip (#7).
Cleaning and prepping the front windows.
Started dismantling bits at the old door in the ladies loo (sorry, palour) and the alcove door.
Finishing the removing of all paint in the cellar.
Lifted the floor boards in the ground floor hall.
Sprayed boron on to the exposed rafters in the bar and also respray under the stairs to the school room.
some sat in the sun, did wire stripping and have a little chit -chat.

Some of the team actually went back in on the Sunday to make sure everything was ready for the plumbers and also allow the underfloor insulation to be laid.

Thanks to all volunteers who helped out.

Adrian in Bedroom 2

Wire stripping duty

Cleaning the hall

Tony stripping the cellar

Newly plasterboarded in school room

Adrian and Alan in bedroom 2

De-nailing bedroom 3

Ken clearing the cellar

Gullies cleared out

Ian cutting services trench

About to de-nail bedroom 3

Undercoating the new pub sign

Plasterboarding the school room

Gully in hall finally cleared

Theresa cleaning the gents

29th June: W&E Rotary

The Swan set out our stall again at the Rotary Club's Summer Fayre in Alexandra Gardens. We tested skills at the old school pub game Shove Ha'penny to win a bottle of Windsor Knot - or a sweets for our cygnet supporters. We also had lots of fun with swan themed things for sale including lights and the popular doggy bandanas.

Pamela Stockbridge has also been able to supply us with lots more of her amazing plants to sell, very much appreciated. As usual, people were also interested in learning more about what we are up to, potentially getting involved and possibly making a loan or donation.

Setting up the stall

Our information board

Manning the stall

The old pub sign

Shove a halfpenny game

We had a prime spot

Team Swan

Our sales stall

30th June: Volunteer Day

This was anotheer pop-in day at any time for any duration. We had a long list of tasks to do but focussed on the priority: insulation. Some of the girls also did wire stripping.

Tony cutting insulation